This photograph was given to Patricia Lambert by Anne Dischler.
Eunice News, July 18, 1967
Francis Fruge played a major role in Garrison's investigations - he worked with Anne Dischler on the Clinton/Jackson witnesses, and he also investigated Rose Cherami and her supposed foreknowledge of the assassination. There are also indications in Anne Discher's notes that Fruge was on the scene before they were teamed together.
Here is the first page from Anne Dischler's steno pad.
From February 1967 to May 18, 1967, Dischler and Fruge were investigating Rose Cherami and the supposed sighting of Oswald in Lafayette, Louisiana. Click here to read about the various sightings of Oswald in Louisiana. They then worked on the Clinton/Jackson witnesses until mid-October 1967, when Dischler was pulled off the case.
In March, 2020, I traveled to Dallas to visit the Sixth Floor Museum to examine the papers of Patricia Lambert. This research was for my book On the Trail of Delusion -- Jim Garrison: The Great Accuser. I was there for three days and took photographs of hundreds of pages of her papers.
I went back on September 23, 2021 to examine additional files. The purpose of my second visit was to make copies of Anne Dischler's steno pads and other documents related to the Clinton/Jackson witnesses.
I discovered that Anne Dischler had told Patricia Lambert some secrets about Francis Fruge but had sworn her to secrecy. Lambert did not put these secrets into her book False Witness.
I found myself in a quandary. Do I reveal these secrets to the world? If Patricia Lambert kept this material secret, then should I reveal this information? On the other hand, any researcher examining Lambert's papers would also see this material. At some point, these secrets would become public.
Since all the principals in this story -- Dischler, Lambert, and Fruge -- are deceased, I have decided that the time is right to reveal these secrets.
First, Anne Dischler and Francis Fruge had an affair while they were investigating for Garrison. In and of itself, this might mean little. However, given the affair, it was less likely that Dischler would tell Garrison's people about issues with Fruge's investigations. In addition, it might have made her less likely to question his interpretations of what was going on:
As you can see, Lambert suspected that they had an affair. In a later note on February 4, 1994, after an interview at Dischler's home, Lambert wrote "she also told me that she had had an affair with him. She thought Jack Fruge [a distant relative of Francis Fruge who told Lambert that Fruge was quite the ladies man] had told me already, or "said something" but I told her he hadn't, which is true, but I suspected."
During their affair, Francis Fruge confessed that he had manufactured evidence in a murder case:
The Barker murder case took place in Jena, Louisiana.
In addition, Francis Fruge embezzled money from Anne Dischler:
In light of this, we have to reevaluate the credibility of Francis Fruge and his part in the Cherami and Clinton investigations.
In addition, Dischler told Lambert that she believed that Fruge had been to Clinton before their investigation. She also told Lambert and Mellen that there was a picture of men in a black car which included Clay Shaw and Lee Harvey Oswald, and that this picture was shown around Clinton before she got there. Of course, this picture has never materialized -- and it seems quite likely that it was Fruge who was showing the picture around.
Tom Bethell wrote a letter to Sylvia Meagher on March 13, 1969 in which he stated that "Incidentally, the Clinton witnesses were to a large extent put together by Lt. Fruge, a state trooper."
Edward Wegmann told Patricia Lambert that the Clinton witnesses "had to be a complete fix." She wrote in her notes that "the most likely 'fixer' was Fruge."
In 2006, Lambert was planning to write a biography of Clay Shaw. She was planning to include this material in her book, but because Anne Dischler was still alive, she was going to say the information came from a "Garrison investigator."
An excerpt from page one of Patricia Lambert's book proposal.
She actually conferred with Vincent Bugliosi about this. He provided the legal justification for including these stories:
Had they known about Fruge's actions, Shaw's attorneys could have used that information to defend against the perjury charges. Specifically they would have been able to include the information in the documents they were filing with the DOJ in Washington and later with the federal court in New Orleans.
Unfortunately, Patricia Lambert never completed her biography of Clay Shaw. She died on May 10, 2016.
The Series on the Clinton/Jackson Witnesses
Part One: The witnesses testify at the trial of Clay Shaw.
Part Two: A response to the allegations made by the Clinton/Jackson witnesses.
Part Three: A look at racism and the politics of the early 1960s.
Part Four: Many of the witnesses were either members of the KKK or sympathizers.
Part Five: None of the Clinton/Jackson witnesses came forward in 1963-1964.
Part Six: Just where did the Clinton/Jackson witnesses come from?
Part Seven: Dischler was an investigator for Garrison who was teamed up with Lt. Francis Fruge of the Louisiana State Police.
Part Eight: The evidence that David Ferrie was in Clinton is poor.
Part Nine: Lee McGehee, the barber in Jackson, claimed that the racist newspaper The Councilor wrote about the Clinton/Jackson witnesses in 1966. No one has been able to find the article.
Part Ten: Corrie Collins continually changed his story about what happened in Clinton.
Part Eleven: Reeves Morgan claimed he called the FBI right after the JFK assassination. But did he really?
Part Twelve: Henry Earl Palmer told a ridiculous story about Oswald claiming he was living with a doctor in Jackson.
Part Thirteen: All the physical evidence that could corroborate the Clinton/Jackson witnesses has vanished. I wonder why.
Part Fourteen: Henry Earl Palmer told Andrew Sciambra that Judge John Rarick was there when the black Cadillac visited Clinton. Author Don Carpentered emailed Rarick in 2007 to ask him. His answer is revealing.
Part Fifteen: Corrie Collins identified Estus Morgan as one of the people who exited the black Cadillac to go and register. Winslow Foster might have been the other person in the car.
Part Sixteen: Some witnesses saw other people in Clinton that day; Manchester's poor memory; and a look at whether the Cadillac's registration was checked in Baton Rouge.
Part Seventeen: The HSCA investigation of the Clinton/Jackson witnesses was poor and incomplete. The HSCA never even figured out that Anne Dischler was the Garrison investigator that did most of the work in Clinton. She was not called to testify and the HSCA never examined her notes.
Part Eighteen: Corrie Collins was interviewed by the HSCA but was asked very few questions. He was not asked about Estus Morgan, Winslow Foster, and why his story continually changed during the initial investigation.
Previous Relevant Blog Posts on the Clinton/Jackson Witnesses
Three case studies on how Garrison was less than inquisitive, including the possible check of the Cadillac in Clinton.
Why didn't Garrison check out whether the Trade Mart in New Orleans had leased a Cadillac?
An interview with Weisberg in which he discusses the Clinton witnesses.
Two of the Clinton witnesses claimed they were intimidated. But were they really?
Some background material on Clinton.
William Dunn initially said that Thomas Beckham was with Shaw and Oswald.
Andrew Dunn said Jack Ruby was in Clinton.
None of Garrison's witnesses, including the witnesses from Clinton/Jackson, came forward in 1963 -1964.